Ngiyabonga (Thank You) to All the Delegates and Guests!

Thank you to everyone for such a memorable trip. Not only did we learn much about African science education, the natural wonders of South Africa and its culture, we also learned a lot about and from each other. I think we can all agree that this People to People trip was an incredible learning adventure. Now we can all fully understand why it is called a Citizen's Ambassador Program- you all brought such good will from America and your states with you. Thank you all for your generosity in providing gifts to the schools and programs in South Africa. Thank you for being such willing and eager learners. Thank you for each and every special touch you brought to the trip. And thank you for being on time (well, almost!) every morning and afternoon when we felt like it was rush hour! I hope you had a safe journey home and time to reflect on this experience. I will leave you with this quote (sorry, I don't know who to attribute it to): "The only dark thing about the African Continent is our ignorance of it". I think this trip surely raised our understanding of South Africa and its struggles pre and post Apartheid as well as gain a deeper appreciation for this Continent, the cradle of human civilization- now it is our job to help others gain new understandings.

May our paths cross again,

Page Keeley, Science Education Delegation Leader
2008-09 President of the National Science Teachers Association
Senior Science Program Director, Maine Mathematics and Science Alliance
pkeeley@mmsa.org

COSAT Visit

We visited the Center of Science and Technology, COSAT, in the Khayelitsha Township not far from the Cape Town airport. Approximately 1.5 million blacks live in the township. There are about 175 10-12th grade students chosen on the basis of math and English tests given in 8th grade. Many of the students are disadvantaged, coming from the informal shack communities. The photos show the kind of living facilities many of these students come from. They receive a meal from the COSAT soup kitchen and go to school from 8 AM to 4:15 PM. They all take the same courses- Isixhosa, English, Maths, Information Technology, Physical Science, Life Science, and Life Orientation. The teachers are well qualified and the school has a 100% rate of 12th graders going on to the university. Because these students come from homes where there may not be electricity or water or even a parent home (some parents are gone away to work a month at a time or some are ill with AIDS) the school provides a lot of academic and social support. The school tracks their graduates and many follow science, engineering, and computer science fields. After a brief presentation by the Director of the school, delegates were led on a tour to see the facilities. At the end, we were treated to another fine performance of song and moving narrative by the students.

Lunch at Liziwe's Guest House

After leaving the LEAP School, we headed into the Gugulethu Township in Capetown for another deleicious home cooked lunch. This time we stopped at Liziwe's Guest House, a South African version of a B&B. Liziwe Ngcokoto is the proud owner of the guest house along with her husband, Donald. The guest house is right in the township among shacks and simple homes. The story of her guest house which she shared with us is quite remarkable and illustrates the entrepeneurship of S. AFricans trying to rise out of poverty. The story goes like this: Liziwe used to work as a tea lady while her husband Donald worked in a factory in Cape Town. One day Donald noticed they were knocking down surrounding walls of the factory to expand. Donald asked the owner if he could use some of the bricks. The owner said he could have them if he would take them away. Donald found an old plot of land in Guguletu that was being used as a rubbish dump. He bought the land and lived in a shack on the land while he dreamed of building a house. He spent months carting the bricks and cleaning them off, one by one. In 2 years he started building his house. In 3 years it was finished and Liziwe and Donald opened their small guest house. Eventually they added more rooms and now run a very successful business . How privileged we were to be invited into their home and meet these truly remarkable, warm, and kind South Africans!

Life Orientation at LEAP

The final part of our LEAP School visit was quite compelling, personal, and powerful. We had an opportunity to see how they incorporate what they call"life orientation" into their program. LEAP devotes one lesson every day to Life Orientation, sort of like our advisor/advisee groups back in the U.S. except these students come from very different backgrounds and in some respects, backgrounds similar to our urban poor. The students at LEAP have to deal with the aftermath of apartheid (as for most township schools) have an additional set of circumstances to deal with as a consequence of the mess created by apartheid, including the erosion of the social fabric and very real economic hardships. This powerful part of the LEAP program is explained on their web site at http://www.leapschool.org.za as follows: Many of these students at LEAP are facing the reality of disintegrating families, illness- and violence-related deaths. As a consequence, the school actively and consciously creates the space and the relationships in which there is trust. Life Orientation directly deals with the “voicelessness” of individuals. Often the only voice of township students is a collective one, and there is a great fear of being out of step with the collective voice and this is particularly damaging in a learning environment. What is developed in the Life Orientation sessions is the individual student’s sense of wholeness, identity and belonging, and from this platform each of the students builds an ability to risk, to be open and to identify and process real feelings. The main goal of Life Orientation at LEAP is to create a safe place in which any issue can surface. In such a place, the young people can find a voice: they can be angry, sad or bitter. They can learn to become comfortable with reflection and introspection, which allows them to deal with these feelings. In a safe place the students can challenge and be challenged, allowing each young person’s unique voice to develop.

We witnessed and experienced this ourselves at the end of the program. The students, staff, and delegates reassembled and the students started off by individuals volunteering to come up and share a personal reflection about relationships. Following the students, our delegates were invited to share. There was barely a dry eye in our group as delegates shared their personal reflections about our South Africa experience and how it has changed and will shape their lives. Whew- tissue time!

This wonderful day ended with one more celebration in song- the beautiful African voices and music filled the air, as we absorbed the music inside of us- in our very souls. What a morning- what a program- what hope for the future in these remarkable students- what a powerful experience we will never forget!

Break Out Groups

After tea, our delegates broke into break out "Science Department Engagement Groups" with the LEAP staff. Each delegate chose 1 of 4 groups to participate in: 1) Assessment, 2) Planning and Organization, 3) Motivation and GUidance, and 4) Projects and Practical Work. The LEAP staff facilitated the discussions which were a sharing between delegates' work and the work of the LEAP program. After 20 minutes of lively, engaged discussion, we came back into the whole group and a delegate volunteer reported out the key point sof each groups' discussion.

The LEAP School of Maths and Science Student Tours

After being welcomed by a choir of beautiful African songs, the students paired up with delegates and took them on a personalized tour of the school. We returned for afternoon tea and then the students took their delegate pairs to one of their classes. It was an amazing experience- new friendships formed with the students and staff. Overall, a very touching highlight of the trip. With their school uniforms, smiling faces, and very articulate English (which is not their mother tongue), it is hard to believe these students come from such disadvantaged families. We hope, because of the investment they are making in their math/science education, the future will be a bright one for these remarkable students!

I tried to get photos of all the delegates with their student guides as I passed you in thehallways. Sorry if I missed some of you. If you want to download the photo of you with your guide, go to: http://picasaweb.google.com/pagekeeley/StudentToursAtLeap#

The LEAP School of Maths and Science

On Tuesday morning we visited the LEAP School of Science and Maths (they always refer to mathematics in S. Africa as Maths). This school started in 2004 with the aim of transforming educationally disadvantaged communities in South Africa through mathematics and science focused education initiatives. The LEAP learning model is designed to support children from South Africa’s poor township communities to be become South Africa’s leaders of the future. LEAP aims to achieve this objective by: facilitating the personal development of each learner into successful and socially responsible citizens, and substantially increasing the number of learners who pass the national secondary maths and science exam thereby enabling access to a full range of tertiary education opportunities. When we arrived, we were greeted in the main room by students who sang several African songs for us. The music filled us with joy and their voices were so clear and powerful!

African Cafe- An Amazing Culinary Experience

We had an amazing dinner at the African Cafe. My friend, Kevin Sherman, formerly of Seattle and now living in Cape Town joined us. First of all, you walk into a restaurant just filled with the vibrant art and colors of Africa. Notice the hanging lights made from recycled plastic bottles! We went up three floors to the roof top dining area. The servers were dressed in authentic African garb. The meal was served communal style and begins with the servers washing our hands in rose water. Multiple authentic African dishes are brought out throughout the evening such as: pea and sage balls, deep fried breads, sweet potatoes and cheese balls rolled in sesame seeds, spinach and mealie meat pies, Zambian bean pies, Ethiopian chick pea bites, sesame chicken kabobs, lentil curry, Congo salad with a cilantro and palm oil dressing,Moroccon lamb stew, Moroccon chicken almond pies, and a delightful assortment of desserts. All the items are listed on the beautiful "hornbill water pitchers" - Mohammed bought one of the pitchers in their gift shop and I could kick myself now for not getting one! The table ware was just gorgeous and so colorful. About midway into the meal, the servers, kitchen staff, and face painter came out with an African drum and sang and danced. It was fabulous! You can visit their really cool web site at: http://www.africacafe.co.za/ Their table ware, made just for them, is sold at a few select retailers in the US and is listed on their web site. I am going to get that hornbill pitcher! I would highly recommend this dining experience to anyone visiting Cape Town.

Face Painting at the African Cafe!

Several of us went out to the African Cafe one night for our "dinner on your own". While waiting for dinner to be served, several of the delegates had their faces painted, African style, by the resident face painter at the restaurant!

A Home Cooked Meal at the Minnie's House

We were treated to a home cooked meal at the modest home of Sharon and Dickie Minnie. Dickie is a high school science teacher. He and his wife Minnie prepare and host home cooked meals for groups that visit Cape Town. We pulled up in our 2 buses to their modest home in a nice middle class Cape Town suburb and entered their "Homestead" courtyard to be greeted by our gracious hosts. Sharon wore a "Domestic Goddess" apron and Rhonda and Charlotte gave her some Mardi Gras beads to wear and Page presented them with numerous gifts from the delegates- food items and other host and hostess gifts from our home states. The Minnie's living room had the furniture removed to accomodate our 48 delegates and guests at small, beautifully decorated tables. We had a lovely dinner and then a special surprise served with dessert. The Minnie's announced we would have some special entertainment. Their 4 year old grandson, Esha arrived. They stood him up on a chair and in his tiny voice, he clearly sang the South African National Anthem to us- 3 times in 3 different languages! He was adorable. We all thanked our gracious guests as we departed. As the last one out, I had the special pleasure of another song by Esha. As we stood out in the courtyard while the delegates and guests boarded the bus, Esha sang Michael Jackson's "Billie Jean" for me! What a delightful evening!